Valentine's Day at Camp Jupiter
by Mandi2341
Summary: Jason Grace didn't mind Valentine's Day much, until pricking himself on a broken spear lands him with an inexplicable crush on Reyna. Now he's faced with a quest with a pixie to find the god Cupid and reverse the spell.
1. Broken Weapons and War Games

**Author's Note: I actually don't have any idea where I got the idea for this story. And there's a warning about OOC-ness for the sake of humor. But PixieKindOfCrazy is writing this with me, because she's a daughter of Aphrodite. I'm a Zeus kid *high-fives with Jason*. **

**By the way, I 100% support Jayna over Jasper. Don't hate me.**

**So I don't own Heroes of Olympus, because my name is not Rick Riordan.**

* * *

Valentine's Day. As a general rule, not my favorite day of the year. And after this week's events, any chance it had of making my top 365…crashed, burned, and died.

It all started with that dumb chest of broken arrows. Well, there was a bunch of other junk in it as well, and a Venus legacy asked me to help her find a spear to use in the war games. She was a probie, so decided to take her to the armory to find something.

She pointed to a box in the corner. "What's in there?" she asked.

I frowned; I'd never seen the box before. It wasn't really a box, either. It was more like an old chest. I raised an eyebrow. "Maybe some imperial gold treasure?" I suggested with a laugh.

The girl shrugged, but managed a smile. "Maybe," she agreed.

I walked over to the chest and opened it up. It was full of arrows, lances, bows, swords, everything you could think of. I started rummaging through the chest, looking for a spear for the girl to use. Behind me, I heard the door open. Reyna's voice: "Hey, Venus kid, you're need back with your cohort."

The girl addressed me. "Uh, so can you…"

"Yeah," I assured her. "I'll bring it for you to the war games, okay?"

"Thanks!" she called, and I heard her footsteps fading away. I continued to look for a good, usable spear.

"What are you looking for?" Reyna asked me.

"A spear," I murmured.

"Don't you have a spear already?" she asked.

"Not for me," I told her, pulling aside broken weapons to get deeper inside the chest. "For that girl—Ah!" Suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my fingers, and I quickly pulled my hand away. My middle and index fingers were bleeding.

Reyna came to kneel next to me. "What did you do?" She took my hand to examine it.

I shook my head, annoyed. "Must've pricked myself on an arrow, or…" I met her eyes, and it was like my voice didn't work anymore.

Her dark eyes seemed to sparkle, and her dark hair fell perfectly across her shoulder in a beautiful braid. She seemed so radiant, almost like a goddess. I could feel my heart start to pick up its pace, pumping blood straight to my cheeks. "Um…" I tried to finish my sentence, but I couldn't seem to remember what I had been trying to say.

Reyna frowned at me. "Yes?"

My cheeks were burning. Why is my heart racing like this? I thought. And…I wanted to pull her toward me and…

I shook the thought out of my head.

"Hello?" Reyna waved her hand in front of my face. "Grace, are you awake?"

I blinked, remembering the blood running across my palm and down my wrist. "Oh," I said stupidly. "I'll…just wash this off." I got up and pulled my hand out of hers, incredibly relieved to get out of there.

* * *

I wrapped a Band-Aid around each of my bleeding fingers when I got back to my barracks. My heart had thankfully slowed down, but it was still beating uncomfortably quickly. The very thought of Reyna sent it racing again, so I tried to block it out…without much success.

Evening muster was a bit of a nightmare. Just glancing in Reyna's direction, just hearing her voice tempted me grab her by the shoulders and kiss her until I couldn't breathe. I kept my eyes fixed on an ant that was crawling next to my foot.

At dinner, for some reason, Reyna decided to sit next to me. "Jason," she said casually, "is something wrong?"

I felt dizzy with lust, and I hated myself for it. But I managed, "N-nothing. Nothing at all. Why do you ask?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Because you're acting very weird," she replied. "Especially around me."

I stared at her. Why did she look so…perfect? Her hair, her eyes, the way she was looking at me like I belonged in a mental hospital, which I probably did. I'd never felt this way before. My body tingled, like the hairs on my arms and legs were standing straight up. I wanted to get up from my seat and run, but…I found that I couldn't take her eyes off her. It was as if her looks were an addiction and I felt light-headed, in a good way. The best way possible.

Reyna leaned away from me with that strange expression on her face. "Why are you…what are you doing?"

I realized that I had been leaning toward her more and more. I wanted her. I wanted to run my fingers through her long, glossy hair. I wanted to feel her soft lips on mine.

Everyone else at the table was staring at us. Dakota smirked. "Ah, he mused. "It was just a matter of time, huh, Jason?" He took another swig of Kool-Aid as I glared at him, blushing violently.

I sat up straighter, trying to act casual. I put on my poker face. "A matter of time before what?" I snapped.

Dakota shrugged. Gwen raised an eyebrow. Dakota shrugged and waved his fork back and forth between Reyna and me. "This," he said.

I wanted to answer back, but our praetors James and Isabella stood up. "Time for war games!" they announced.

I was so thankful to leave. As I walked to the Field of Mars, my heart was beating so hard, I could hear it in my ears, and I was panting like I had run two marathons. I put my hand over my heart, wishing it would slow down. What was going on with me?

Someone clapped a hand onto my back. I jumped, dreading Reyna. But when I turned around, it was worse than Reyna. It was Octavian.

"Well, Jason Grace," he mused. "You seem…distracted."

I took a deep breath, calming my heartbeat. "Looking for any advantage you can get, huh?" I muttered.

"Oh, Grace," he said, "you make me feel like I need to stand on your back to feel taller."

I raised an eyebrow. "But don't you?"

Octavian laughed, but there was a hostile edge to it. "It's a good thing you have a better sense of humor than your father," he mused.

"Isn't it?" I murmured absent-mindedly. I tried to keep my marching steady: left, right, left, right. But Reyna passed by me, just barely glancing in my direction, and I stumbled, cursing in Latin under my breath.

We got together to discuss strategy. Daniel, one of the centurions from Fourth, looked at me. "You want to sneak around and be our distraction?" It sounded like an innocent suggestion, but I'd played enough war games to know that the competition between cohorts was fierce. It usually ended up being the first three cohorts against fourth and mine, fifth. And whoever was first over the wall got the Mural Crown. I had gotten mine a few months ago, when I learned to control the winds and fly myself to the top of the wall. But being a distraction usually involved eagles having to carry you off the field.

Gwen spoke up. "I was thinking this time, you guys do the distraction, and we get the banner. Change things up a little bit, you know?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes. He pointed at me. "Why don't you fly some people up to the top and start attacking?"

"Two words: water cannons," I replied.

He rolled his eyes. "Then avoid the water cannons and get the flag, Grace."

I really wasn't in the mood for a cold blast of pressurized water to the face, but I'd managed to get over the wall once; why not again?"

I nodded. "Fine," I said. "And what about the rest of you? Gonna snatch the flag while the rest of us are getting slaughtered? Take the glory for Fourth?"

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "If it makes you feel any better, the rest of us can't fly, so you'll have the best shot at grabbing the banner."

It went back and forth for a while before we finally decided on a battle plan. Fourth would play distraction while I took two people to the top of the wall with me.

Gwen said, "Who's going with him?"

Reyna immediately stepped forward, dagger in hand. "I want that medal," she said. "I'll go."

I felt dizzy again. She seriously seemed to be glowing, she was so beautiful. I wanted to grab her and undo that braid and—

"Hey!" Gwen snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Come on, Jason, wake up! We need to win this game."

I cleared my throat. "Um, right. So I'm taking…Reyna…and…" Her name in my mouth made my tongue feel ridiculously dry, and I stammered to a halt, my mind blanking.

Dakota snickered. "Bobby, dude. You're taking Reyna and Bobby."

I nodded, feeling hot under my helmet. "Right. So we'll go around and find an opening, then we'll attack." My heart rate had skyrocketed, and I felt out of breath again.

James blew the whistle from the top of the watchtower, where he and Isabella would be referees. The game started, and chaos erupted on the field. Swords clashed, battle cried went up, and water cannons were on full blast. I took Bobby and Reyna around the back of the wall, where there were the least guards. The back of my neck tingled as I was too aware of Reyna running behind me.

_Don't get distracted, Jason_, I told myself.

I looked up, trying to decide how high it was. I was still pretty new at flying, and I'd never done it with two people hanging onto me before. But I took a deep breath and held out my arms. "Alright," I told the two of them. "Hold on tight."

The three of us linked arms, and Reyna held my arm with both of hers. It sent shivers everywhere, but I had to concentrate.

A breeze blew through, and I concentrated on the winds all around me, pretending that they were wrapping around my waist, imagining them lifting me off the ground, solidifying under my feet. Reyna's hands tightened around my arms, and I fought hard to stay focused. I took a deep breath. "Here goes," I muttered. I imagined shooting up, and the winds pushed us toward the top of the wall.

I heard the blast of a water cannon off to my right. I tried to land on the wall with Reyna and Bobby. But my mind went fuzzy as Reyna readjusted her grip on me. She was holding onto me tightly, both of her arms around my neck.

I began to hyperventilate, feeling butterflies again. My mind went blank and I found myself staring into Reyna's dark, sparkling eyes, completely forgetting about Bobby, who was hanging onto my other arm. I needed to kiss her. This wasn't just a lusty desire; this was a necessity. I needed her. Now.

I leaned in to press my lips against hers, seeing her cheeks go rosy and her eyes fill with panic. Off to the side I heard my name called once…or maybe twice…

Then there was the pain and shock of a water cannon hitting me full-force in the neck and face. I felt like I was drowning. All of my concentration shattered. The wind stopped supporting me. The three of us were free-falling to the ground, and the last thing I remembered was the back of my head exploding into black stars that swallowed me in darkness.

* * *

_Jason…_

Jason.

"Jason!" Isabella's face slowly came into focus. She didn't look very happy, but she didn't look upset either. Just annoyed.

I tried to sit up, but my head ached horrendously. My vision swirled around, and I felt slightly nauseous. I wondered if I was concussed. I wanted nothing more than to sink back into the blackness. But Isabella's stern face made me wonder if she'd even let me pass out again.

I realized we were still of the Field of Mars. Reyna and Bobby were being taken care of by the medics, and praetor James was overseeing it. Other legionnaires were heading back to the barracks, laughing and high-fiving. I frowned. "What happened?" I asked Isabella.

Isabella rolled her eyes. "You tell me. You were about to get over the wall, and you decided that it would be the perfect time to sneak in a kiss."

The memory made my heart take off at full speed, beating quicker than the blades of a helicopter. The nausea came back, but it had nothing to do with my apparent concussion. I heard Isabella continue, "I need you focused, Grace. You're the best fighter we have. I can't afford for you to get distracted in battle like that. That was unacceptable."

I glanced at Reyna, and my heart jumped hard. I was seriously starting to lose it. I looked at Isabella desperately. "Isabella," I panicked, "help me."

She frowned, like I'd caught her off-guard. "What's wrong?" she asked.

I stammered out, "Every time I see Reyna, m-my heart starts racing like crazy, I can't breathe, I feel feverish, and I get the sudden urge to shove my tongue in her mouth."

As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to grab them back. I usually try to censor myself before I speak, but right then I was on 100% panic mode. The censors weren't working.

I expected Isabella to laugh, or gasp, or slap me or something, but she kept a completely straight face. After about two seconds of silence, she said, "That was beautifully phrased, Grace."

I blushed even harder. "Isabella, please," I begged. "I don't know what's wrong with me. You're a daughter of Venus, so I was hoping you could tell me and fix me or something."

She frowned. "To me, it just sounds like you have a crush on Reyna," she told me.

I shook my head slowly, but I wondered if it was true. "I've never felt this way about her before. And I just…_want_ her, you know?"

Isabella's frown deepened. "Then it's lust you feel," she murmured. "And you've never felt this way before…" Suddenly she gasped. "And this week's Valentine's Day! It must be love magic, then," she decided. "Tomorrow morning, I'll take you and Reyna to see Roxanne. She's also a daughter of Venus, and she's great with love magic."

I nodded. "Alright," I said. Anything to get these awful thoughts out of my head.

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**Tell me what you think about this story. It shouldn't be that long, maybe a few chapters. **

**Reviews are awesome!**

**~Mandi2341**


	2. Roxanne's Love Speech

**Author's Note: Hey people! So basically, I wrote about half of this and PixieKindOfCrazy wrote the other half. You'll see why I needed a pixie's help in the love area. Because as a child of Zeus…I'm as clueless as Jason Grace in that department.**

**P.S. Roxanne IS PixieKindOfCrazy. So that's basically why I needed her help.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes of Olympus.**

* * *

So the next morning after breakfast, Isabella took Reyna and me down to the Third cohort to see Roxanne. We found two girls lying down on their bunks, talking. But when Isabella cleared her throat, the two girls automatically stood to attention. One girl murmured, "Praetor Isabella and Jason Grace?" The other said, "What brings you here?"

Isabella nodded to the first girl, who had long, curly brown hair. "I need your help. Come."

The girl, who I assumed to be Roxanne, glanced at her friend, then at the three of us before following Isabella outside.

"Um, so what can I help you with?" Roxanne asked us. She was maybe two years older than I was, making her about sixteen. She had faint freckles on her face, and her eyes changed from hazel to green, with a gold ring around each of her irises. She wore light makeup: glittery eye shadow and pink lip gloss. I glanced down at her tattoos: a dove, SPQR, and three lines.

Isabella sighed. She was standing between Reyna and me, understandably. I didn't trust myself to stand near Reyna. I was afraid that I'd tackle her or something. Isabella said, "We have a problem involving love magic. There seems to be some sort of spell going on between these two." She motioned towards Reyna and me.

Roxanne raised an eyebrow. "Yeah," she mused. She wiggled her fingers at me. "I sense strong feelings coming from this one. But…" She cocked her head to the side and looked at Reyna. "…are you both under the spell?"

Reyna blushed. "No," she said flatly. "Just Jason."

I frowned. Why was she blushing? "What does she mean?" I whispered to Reyna, keeping my eyes on the ground.

She just shook her head, but her cheeks were still a little pink. "I have no clue."

Roxanne shrugged. "Are you sure? Because it feels like a mutual—"

"It's just Jason," Reyna snapped back.

Roxanne smirked. She looked like she knew something we didn't and was finding it entirely too amusing. The look in her eyes made me uncomfortable as she looked from me to Reyna and back. Reyna was blushing hard, but I couldn't understand why. I did notice, though, how the red in her cheeks made her eyes look darker as she stared at Roxanne and flicked the braid back over her shoulder. My heart started doing that weird-skipping thing again as I stared at her and I tried to swallow down the fluttery feeling in my stomach.

Isabella rolled her eyes, smiling a little, which was strange for annoyed-Isabella…"Quit enjoying this so much and channel your pixie energy to help us, Roxie," she said.

'Roxie' grinned, her hazel eyes glowing green with excitement…it intimidated me. "I'd love to. But, again, you haven't told me what I need to help you with…"

"Well, you see…" Isabella glanced at us apologetically, "This is going to be awkward to explain but…I think Jason somehow got some love spell or something put on him."

Roxie raised an eyebrow, "…What kind of love spell?"

I furrowed my brows; there are different kinds?

Reyna voice my thoughts, "I didn't even realize love magic existed to this extent; what do you mean 'what kind'?"

Roxie laughed, "Oh, right. I forget not everyone can see love the way I do. Sometimes I skip steps; sorry. I think I know what kind of spell is on the boy, I just wanted to mess with you," she smirked, "But I'll explain it anyway." She turned around to look at her friend who had went back to sitting on her bunk. "Meely, come here." Roxanne's friend, Meely, walked up to us. She was a few inches taller than Roxie with dark skin and black braids, her eyes were brown and held a look that was a weird cross between innocent friendliness and mischievousness.

"Yeah, Rox, what's up?"

Roxie rolled her eyes. "I know you were listening to the conversation, Meely. And I know you can feel it too."

"Feel what?" I interjected. I know boys aren't supposed to understand girls, but Venus girls are a whole new level of confusing.

Isabella decided to answer, "I know most campers don't know much about the Venus kids besides that they're all beautiful and like looking at themselves. But the thing is, Jason, that there's a reason I brought you to them. Children of Venus actually have abilities, very unique abilities. Love Children, that's what they call themselves. I'm just a legacy, but the _children_ of Venus can actually sense feelings between people, relationships and types of love. Did I get that right?" She turned to Meely and Roxanne.

Meely nodded, but Roxanne spoke, "Yep. But it's more than that. Yes, we can tell exactly how you feel right now," both the girls' eyes took on a scary glint, "But we also understand all the dynamics. Of course love isn't the same for every person and every situation, right? Well that's where the different types come in. For example, two best friends don't feel the same way about each other that a married couple does, but both groups love each other in some form, right?"

I paused, thinking about it. I never really bothered to look at things like that, but they were right. "Yeah, I guess. But what does that have to do with me?"

Roxie grinned. "Everything. You see, Jason, love is an all-encompassing thing, no matter how many different types there are: true love, friendship, a mother's protective love for her children, a brother and sister relationship—they're all the same in a way as well. Confusing I know, but you're not supposed to understand that bit, we are," she looked at Meely and grinned, "But that's why Isabella brought you to us; we can tell exactly how you feel," Roxie switched her glance back to Reyna with a knowing look in her eyes, "That goes for you as well, Reyna."

Reyna flicked her eyes up, alarmed, "What about me? And I never told you my name."

Roxie snorted and it somehow didn't mess up the look of effortless beauty on her face, "What has to do with him has to do with you. And no, you didn't tell me your name, but Romeo over there has been subconsciously mumbling it under his breath for the last five minutes…I doubt he even knows he was doing it."

My eyes widened. _What?_ I don't remember saying her name. I was thinking it, but I wasn't—or was I? My head felt so clouded that I couldn't tell my thoughts and words apart anymore.

"What?" I voiced, "I didn't think I did, but…just please, help me, if you know what's happening to me, tell me. Now." My voice was becoming more stressed by the moment.

Her smirk disappeared and a genuine smile came over her face, reminding me of a picture I'd seen of Venus once; they both wore an expression like they were looking at something beautiful that they truly appreciated, "I know what's happening to you, Jason. I would tell you to calm down, but I know you can't. I think the reason you don't remember saying anything is because of the type of spell you're under. Some love spells create blind adoration, making the victim follow the other person wherever they go and be infatuated with everything they do, some love spells create loyalty, making the person sacrifice their life for the others if necessary. Love spells are created from the type of love the maker is intending to use. They are love spells made from protective instinct, from shallow infatuation, even from obsession. But none of those are the one you're under. I haven't seen this type of love since I was a little girl…I, won't go into that. But know that this is the type that blurs lines, distracts the victim. The reason you don't remember saying her name is because you didn't mean to, you probably only thought it, then the effects of the spell took over and blinded the line between mental and verbal. You may have noticed effects like that already; this is the most uncontrollable type of love. Those effects will happen in different areas too. Like not being able to focus on anything outside of the other person, or forgetting what you're doing, or not being able to reign in your reactions. Heart beating faster, neck getting hot, breath not coming as easily, am I right?"

I took a deep breath to block out the embarrassment and nodded, "But then what type is it?"

Roxie suddenly broke into a fit of giggles, hiding her face behind her hands as she laughed. I'd never seen someone look so impish, bright and dark, joyous and devious at the same time. Maybe that's where she got the 'pixie' nickname. She waved her hand at her friend, "Meely, you tell them."

The other girl smiled, showing all her teeth, and she suddenly looked like a very glamorous little kid, even though she was probably about 15, "Lust."

I blinked. Isabella had mentioned that before, but I never thought…

Roxie saw the look on my face and came out of her fit, "Oh, I know. Most people think lust isn't a type of love at all, but it is. Why do you think Venus and Cupid are so intertwined? Lust comes from love- real, true love. I know that most people think lust just comes from shallow attraction, but that kind of lust isn't real. That feeling falls more under the infatuation category, which is really just a nicer term for creepy obsession…No, real lust, and is almost as powerful as love itself. Lust is the child of love. Real lust is fueled by love and cannot exist without it. Hence Cupid being the child of Venus…"

"Wait," I felt kind of stupid for saying this, but I've had a lot thrust at me today, "Cupid's the god of love, isn't he?"

Both Children of Venus rolled their eyes at me in anger for me not knowing and I'd kind of rather face the water cannons again then be subjected to their glare for any longer, "No one ever knows! They only ever think of Mom! Ugh. He's the god of lust. His Greek name is Eros, hence the word 'erotic'."

Oh…I wanted to smack myself for not picking up on that earlier.

"But what are you saying, though? That someone put a lust spell on Jason and the effects are only caused by me?" Reyna wore a look that seemed half mystified, half dubious.

Roxie nodded, "That's exactly what I'm saying…or part of it, anyway. There's a reason the effects are so strong and if you'd been paying attention to my little rant, you would understand what that reason is. But I think I'll let you two figure that one out for yourselves."

What was she talking about? I mean, I know have much more respect for Venus kids and no longer think them so shallow and unintelligent, but I guess I missed part of her point. She explained about love and lust, I got that. What else did she mean about Reyna and me? I mean, I was under a spell; that doesn't necessarily…mean anything.

Roxie looked at me as if she knew what I was thinking and I wondered for the second time in fifteen minutes if she was a mind-reader too. She looked at me like one would look at a child trying to do calculus; pitying and annoyed.

"Would you quit that condescending look and just tell us how you can help? And maybe, how this happened anyway?" Reyna snapped.

Roxie raised both eyebrows at Reyna's challenge and smirked a little in disbelief, "Oh, Meely, she thinks all we can do is explain it all to her. She doesn't think we can help her," she laughed.

I restrained a glare; I didn't like people mocking my…friends.

"We're very thankful for your…expertise in this, but Reyna's right. Once you explain it all, how are you gonna help us undo it?" I used my most diplomatic voice, trying to prevent a girl-fight.

Roxie's face lost some of the aggression as she looked me over, "Well, first of all, I didn't put the spell on you, so technically, I can't just 'undo' it."

"But you've done reversal magic before, I saw you, last year when that Apollo kid's prank on the Ceres guy went wrong. You took the effects off him."

She stared at Isabella as if she was missing something obvious, "I knew who did it then, which made it easy to find the source they made the spell from and reverse it."

"Source?" Isabella seemed confused, which I was not used to seeing.

She nodded, "Yeah, the source. Every love spell has to come from something; it's not just words. Love can't be made out of thin air. All love magic really is is manipulating existing emotions and transferring them to whoever you want, or changing the form the feeling is presented in along the way. That Apollo kid made his spell from the feelings of one of his friend who had a crush on someone at the time. He just transferred the emotions. All I had to do to undo it was move the emotions from the Ceres guy."

"Move emotions? What do you mean? How do you do that?" I was seriously not getting this now.

Both girls smirked, "Let's show them, Roxie," Meely spoke up.

Roxie laughed, "Yay. I thought I wouldn't get to do this again until…never mind."

"Do wha—"

I suddenly broke off as the two girls started intently at us. I gasped as I felt a tugging sensation in my chest, then my rapid heart-rate seemed to slow down and my breathing was finally normal again.

"What did you d—" I was cut off by Isabella's voice.

"Roxie," she growled, trying not to look at me, she sounded out of breath and her face looked kind of red… "This is not funny. Please put Jason's emotions back in him."

Reyna's eyes widened as she realized something. I frowned as I tried to think what was happening…then I understood. I really wanted to leave the room at that moment.

Roxie sighed, "Oh, relax, Izzy, I'm just getting you back for failing our cabin inspection last week."

"…You had glitter and clothes and candy all on the floor and the bunks and I found some dude passed out in the kitchen."

"…We were going to clean it up. It was from Caleb's birthday party, you know that. And the guy wasn't passed out, he was knocked out. I may have…purposely messed with his emotions and breathing-rate too much…he wasn't very nice, anyway."

Isabella rolled her eyes, "Just fix. This."

Roxie sighed, "Oh, you spoil all my fun. It was only going to last a few more seconds before it wore off, anyway. I already told you that I can't permanently take away the effects on him until I find out where they're coming from and who did this. I could only transfer them to you for a few minutes."

She then narrowed her eyes in concentration and glanced really quickly from Isabella to me, doing a little sweeping motion with her right hand, "There."

As soon as she was done my heart sped up again. Oh great. My only chance of getting this spell fixed is a girl that can mess with emotions and finds this whole situation funny. This day just keeps getting better.

* * *

**Fun, Fun, Fun, Fun. This story is fun. Thank you PixieKindOfCrazy. **

**By the way I'm gonna write a Father's Day one-shot for my daddy ^_^. So I'll not be updating anything before that. **

**Reviews make me very happy **

**Thanks,**

**~Mandi2341**


	3. An Extremely Awkward Senate Meeting

**Author's Note: Sorry this took a while to write. But it was extremely fun. Thanks PixieKindOfCrazy for writing some of this chapter! (I think you might be able to guess…)**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN HEROES OF OLYMPUS. I WISH I HAD THOUGH.**

* * *

Chapter 3

Roxanne tilted her head to the side, pondering me. She frowned slightly, but she was smiling. "This is a strong spell," she mused. "And you're resisting. Sooner or later, though, you'll succumb to it." She smiled mischievously again. "I want to be there when you do."

Reyna sighed exasperatedly. "So we just need to find Cupid and reverse the spell?" she asked. She was still eyeing me like wanted as much distance between us as possible.

I stared at Roxanne, thinking about what she had said about me succumbing to the spell. I shuddered to think what that meant. I was only fourteen. I'd never had feelings so strong for a person before.

Roxanne raised an eyebrow, considering Reyna's question. "We need a quest…" Suddenly her eyes lit up. "Isabella! Can you call an emergency senate meeting? This sounds like a fun quest!"

Isabella hesitated. Honestly, I could tell what she was thinking; considering we were on the verge of war with the Titans, a quest to fix a love spell was very trivial. But Isabella looked at me and made a slight face. I must've looked pretty desperate. My cheeks still felt like they were glowing red, I couldn't seem to control my breathing, and I couldn't take my eyes off Reyna. I probably looked like a lovesick puppy dog.

The praetor sighed. "Again, I need you focused, Grace. So if a quest is necessary, then I want all the senators in the Senate House at noon."

* * *

I was a senator, ever since last year, as was Roxanne. She sat next to me in the Senate House. Reyna came as well, at Roxanne's request. She would come with us, if the senate approved, which I highly doubted. And if they didn't, I'd be stuck with an eternal crush on Reyna, and I didn't think either of us wanted that. I knew I was starting to creep her out with my incessant staring and unconscious persistence for a kiss. I tried to pinch myself every time I caught myself, but it didn't help and only left two red marks on my arm.

James and Isabella called for silence. They stood on the podium with Octavian next to them. The praetors addressed us. "Alright," James said when we finally quieted down. "So this quest to find Cupid…this is to lift a spell from a fellow senator and centurion, Jason Grace?"

I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I tried hard not to look away and seem shy.

Octavian scoffed. "So we're going to waste resources on an unnecessary quest?" he asked the senate. "Because, Centurion Grace," he continued, finding my face among hundreds, "have you ever considered this to be nothing more than a…_crush_ on the girl?"

My face started to flush with equal parts embarrassment and anger, and I was about to retort when the girl beside me stood, her brown curls bouncing on her shoulders as she popped up. Roxanne's eyes were fire. "Actually, _Octavian_," she sneered his name, "It's not a crush; I think you can all take my word for it when I say there is some seriously ancient love magic going on here. Not that you would understand, Octavian, you know…with you not playing for the same team as our Centurion Grace here," she lifted her eyebrows, daring him to protest.

Every mouth on the council dropped, gaping at her. "What?" Isabella piped up, grinning as if she hoped it was true.

"Wait," I interjected, my brain still fuzzy from love magic. I turned to Roxanne, "Roxie, are you trying to say that Octavian is…gay?"

Octavian stood at the front of the council room with jaw on the ground; I couldn't decide if he was more shocked, angry, or humiliated. This is good.

"Centurion Roxanne!" he shouted. "There is no place for such accusations in this council room! Please sit or I will end this meeting and your petty little quest will get NO support whatsoever!"

I expected the girl to sit down immediately and frown, but that is not what happened. She only rolled her eyes. "If you won't admit it to the council, Octavian, I will prove it. You know as well as anyone that Venus children can _sense_ these things."

Octavian glared at her. "Sit down, Roxanne."

She grinned, staring up at him. "No." She looked back at me and winked, mouthing _Watch this._ "In fact, I think I have an idea." Her eyes took on a faint pink glow as she stared up at him. "Octavian," she cooed, her voice sounding…different, "Just tell them all what you've been hiding. Please. You know you don't want to hide your secret anymore."

Her voice was so persuasive that I had the strange urge to shout all my secrets, even the stupid ones from when I was eight years old. I'd heard about charmspeak, but I'd never witnessed it.

Octavian blinked, his face going blank. "You're right," he said, sounding as if he was in a trance and had just realized something. "I don't want to hide it. I'm gay!"

Roxanne smiled in calm triumph as she finally sat down and the whole room was taken over by a shocked silence. I wanted to laugh; all these years, Octavian has been walking around like he owns everything and someone finally humiliated him. Not that there's anything wrong with being gay, it's just…I've never seen Octavian speechless.

Roxanne looked up suddenly, still sitting. "Oh, and if you ever call love petty again…let's just say, I know a lot of illegal love spells."

My face still felt warm, but Roxanne had strangely given me some confidence to challenge Octavian. I told him, "This thing with Reyna…it just…doesn't feel like an ordinary crush."

"And besides," James added, "I can't afford to have any of my warriors distracted on the battlefield, especially by a trivial love spell."

Octavian narrowed his eyes at Roxanne and me. He looked like he was ready to murder us for that whole confession scene. "And what's your plan, Grace? Do you even know where you're going?"

That's when Roxanne stood, her brown curls bouncing around her face. "I have a pretty good idea," she announced. "Think about it: what's the one city you think of when you think 'lust'?"

"Vegas!" Dakota shouted, chuckling.

Roxanne grinned that mischievous grin of hers. "Exactly," she giggled. "So naturally you'd find Cupid there."

James frowned, but Isabella nodded. "It makes sense," she murmured.

"Yes, but how do you plan on getting there?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

Octavian cleared his throat. "Praetors, if I may," he began, which was his giveaway that he was about to make this a lot more complicated for us. "This quest…it seems unfair to use important funds or resources on it, especially considering it may only take a day, two at the most."

"If you don't make us walk," I muttered under my breath.

Octavian continued, "So I say we let them take care of things by themselves."

Sounds of agreement came from our _Lares_, our house ghosts. Roxanne frowned. I could tell she was getting frustrated, not wanting to consider her chances for a quest like this being destroyed.

Finally Isabella spoke. "We cannot send them off with nothing. The least we can do is provide money for them to spend on what they need, whatever that may be."

Personally, I would've preferred three round-trip airplane tickets to Vegas and back, but Octavian had a way of stirring up the senate in his own favor, and Isabella and James knew how to keep control, even if it meant compromise.

James looked at me. "Jason Grace, would you be leading this quest?"

I stood again, this time a little hesitantly. I wasn't very sure where I'd be going, but it had been my own carelessness that had gotten me into my own mess. Only fair that I lead. I was a centurion as well, and only centurions could lead quests. Reyna and Roxanne weren't centurions, so by default it was my responsibility. I looked at my praetors and nodded. "Yes, I'll lead."

Octavian raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything, yet.

Isabella said, "Roxanne will join you, of course. She knows a lot about Cupid and where to find him."

Roxanne stood, beaming. "Of course," she giggled. "I probably would've offered to go anyway." She glanced at me and winked.

"We need a third person," James said. "We'll vote—"

"Actually," Roxanne broke in, "the third member needs to be this one." She pulled Reyna up from her seat.

Reyna frowned, her dark eyes flashing with annoyance. She was cute when she was annoyed…

_Ugh, stop that_, I scolded myself. I looked down at my shoes, feeling awkward.

Isabella stood. "So Jason, Reyna, and Roxanne will go to Las Vegas to have this spell reversed by Cupid. They shall be given one hundred dollars and ten denarii each, and however they spend it is their business. All in favor?"

Roxanne and I raised our hands, of course. Lots of others raised their hands as well, but I noticed Octavian and some ghosts kept their down.

James counted. "Alright. The quest is on."

Roxanne fist-pumped once. "Whoo-hoo!" she cheered. "Thank you for your time, fellow senators!" Then she grabbed my hand and Reyna's as the senate adjourned.

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**Cool! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! P.S. Pixie and I have nothing against gay people, so don't take any of that offensively, please. :P**

**Reviews are awesome!**

**~Mandi2341**


	4. Herite and Aleina

**Author's Note: Hey, guys, I haven't updated this since July or something like that, and I'm very sorry. I'm writing this with PixieKindOfCrazy, and school sucks so we didn't have much time to work on it. But this is a pretty long chapter. Pixie is so awesome for writing the bulk of it! I love ya, Pixie! *blows her a kiss***

**My goal is to finish this before Valentine's Day, for obvious reasons. We can totally do it.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Heroes of Olympus, but Pixie owns her own legend, of course. Her and her pixie-genius-creativity. **

**Enjoy!**

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Before we left for the quest, Roxanne dragged Reyna and me over to the armory. "First, I have to make sure of something," she told us. She still had that crazy grin on her face, like she was ready to explode with excitement.

"What do you have to check?" Reyna asked warily. I could tell I wasn't the only one weirded-out by this Venus girl.

Roxanne giggled. "Well," she said, "I have to make sure this is the right love spell."

"The right spell?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

We reached the armory, and Roxanne pulled us both inside. She walked us to the chest of broken weapons that had started this whole mess. "You were going through this chest when you pricked your finger on something like an spear, right?" she asked me.

I nodded, feeling even more dizzy than usual, having Reyna standing right behind me. Her mere presence was enough to set off a whole rainbow of funny feelings. And they were getting worse—I could feel my temperature rising and my heart picking up its pace again…although I couldn't decide whether these feelings felt good or bad.

As Roxanne rummaged through the chest, throwing weapons left and right, she smirked. "I can hear you hyperventilating, Jason," she muttered.

That seemed to clear some of the fog from my head, at least for a few seconds. I glared at her. Why did she feel the need to make me feel even more uncomfortable and awkward by pointing out things like mumbling Reyna's name under my breath or breathing too fast? "Can you please just tell us what you're looking for?" I asked, now completely irritated.

Roxanne raised an eyebrow. "No need for the attitude, Grace. I'm trying to help you here."

"Could've fooled me," I scoffed.

"Alright, alright," Roxanne smirked. "It was a very long time ago. It was an age when people truly realized what love could do, when people thought of love as a type of magic, bewitchment." She sighed. "And in this era of love, naturally there were those who would fight. War is the only way to protect love—ironic tragedy—because without people fighting for something, others would forget its worth; without pain, you forget what happiness is." She scoffed.

"Anyway," she continued, "there was one pair of lovers—my particular favorite—that my dad used to tell me the legends of—he said Mom had told him. She asked Cupid to look after them for her, because Zeus had her watching over all the famous lovers, the pairs people always talked about, but she watched everyone. She tends not to listen, and she wasn't about to miss a good love story. That's how she saw them."

_Of course Venus wouldn't miss a good love story_, I thought with an eye roll.

The pixie kept talking. "Their names were Herite and Aleina. He was a great warrior, trained by his war general of a father, alongside his five brothers. She was a traveling gypsy, who had inherited, from her mother, the purest singing voice in the known world. Men used to hear her songs on the road when they went hunting, when she would wander the paths from town to town, looking for a reason to stay in any given village. It's said that the men that heard her would be frozen still, enraptured, literally unable to move until the song stopped. Mom may have had something to do with that," she mused, and something wicked and proud sparkled in her eye. "But one day…she found her reason to stay. She was wandering through a village market when she bumped into him; he was out buying herbs for his father.

"When their eyes met, crystal blue to flaming gold—and Mom felt it, like we can with all couples whom are meant to be—the stars shifted, as if two more planets suddenly clicked into place. Naturally, he was befuddled; she was beautiful. Hair as dark as the night, and eyes like a burning ray of light—literally, her eyes were gold. And she too, saw something in him. He was strong, tall, a man that any sane woman would want…but that wasn't what made her pause. It was his eyes; he had the eyes of an angel Mom says—loving and brave. They were the kindest thing she'd ever seen. She felt that way because he was a fighter, but one who wouldn't dream of harming someone unless he absolutely had to. That's a rare combination; strength and gentility. You can guess the rest," she smirked, flicking her curls over her shoulder. She had a dreamy gleam in her eyes. "They fell in love.

"But one day, as it is always is, there was a war, a terrible war with a tribe of nomads. Herite's people had been warring on and off with these nomads since before even Herite's grandfather could remember. One day, after spending all day with Herite, Aleina started to feel terribly guilty.

"You see, she knew the men in the other tribe…intimately, that is." Roxanne raised an eyebrow. "She was a wandering gypsy, and she was beautiful. She used her talents to her advantage in gathering information and wealth and anything else she deemed of use to her. Actually, she was a daughter of Venus, although she never knew she was. She had persuaded one of the nomads one night, before she met Herite, into telling her some of his war secrets. This is how she knew of the attack beforehand—the enemy was going to bombard Herite's father's tribe come night fall."

I glanced at Reyna, who looked stoic as usual. But when Roxanne mentioned the gypsy's manipulation of the men in the tribe, she grimaced in disgust, but didn't say a word. She caught my eye and immediately dropped her gaze.

Reyna caught our eye contact and lifted an eyebrow at us, but she continued, "Aleina rushed to tell him, but as soon as the general heard her tale, he casted her out for what he deemed betrayal and immediately stared making battle plans. Aleina tried to get through to him, but the general was a stubborn man dead set in his strict laws of loyalty and virtue, so he could not understand a woman such as Aleina. But she was banished from the village before she could tell them the most important piece of information: during the battle, after both sides were significantly worn down, the enemy was going to offer a trade—an end to all the fighting in exchange for the village's best warrior."

Roxanne eyed me with a strangely sad expression. "Aleina was dragged away screaming because she knew who the best warrior in the village was—Herite—and she knew how the enemy planned to torture him after the trade was made- and it inevitably would be made. She was smart enough to know that. These people would do anything to stop the war.

"When the battle began, Aleina couldn't help but sit on the banks overlooking the battlefield, watching over Herite, hoping what she knew would not play itself out. She didn't believe in any gods, but she prayed to whatever she could that he would come through unharmed. She truly loved Herite and she had never loved anyone in her life before him." She took a deep breath and shared a look with Reyna—a knowing kind of look that I didn't understand. Reyna avoided eye contact with Roxanne.

"After three days of fighting, she saw the battle began to die down and the enemy general was making his way across battle lines to Herite's father and Aleina's heart dropped; the trade was about to happen.

"She felt something overtake her as she ran down the hills as fast as she could, into men still swinging swords and spears being thrown just past her head as she ducked and ran to Herite. Before she could make the last few yards to him, she felt a strong hand on her arm pulling her back. Herite turned at the exact moment that Aleina's captor was yanking her to his chest. Those angel eyes were said to have glowed like a gas flame in righteous anger."

The pixie's imagery was…amazing. I could see everything she described. It was like I was in her mind. I found myself totally enraptured by her words, and it wasn't charmspeak.

"Herite screamed at the enemy kidnapping his woman, because he knew she would be sold into slavery if he didn't save her. His roar died down as he walked up to the other man, deceptively calm, 'Get your hands off her or I will make sure you walk away without them,' he said.

"But in the blink of an eye, the captor glanced down and saw that Herite had forgotten his battle instincts with the shock of seeing Aleina in danger—he'd pocketed his spear in its slip on his waist. Not another second had passed before the man roughly grabbed Herite's spear and stabbed it into the flesh under his ribs.

Both Reyna and I gasped. It's always how the love stories had to end—there's never a really happy ever after.

Roxanne sighed and shook her head, like she could read my mind. But she continued smoothly. "Aleina screamed, and the legends say it was the only sound she ever made that was not beautiful," she said. "It pierced through the warriors ears who had been fighting around her, men fell to the ground clutching their heads in their hands. The man holding Aleina growled in pain and dropped her to the ground. She could've gotten away from them, but she didn't run. She crawled on her knees to Herite's body and wept onto his chest.

"Venus had been watching the whole scene. She felt Aleina's grief with every tear that she cried. Venus had actually loved Herite too, in a different way. Actually, it's the way Mom would feel if Percy died; you remember Percy and Annabeth right? Mom loves their story…" she sighed.

"Roxanne!" Reyna snapped. "What are you even talking about?"

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and giggled, "Oh. Venus kid legend. Sorry. Distracted. That happens to me, being ADD and OCD. Anyway, as I was saying, Mom was extremely angry that Herite had been killed. And Venus doesn't um…react well, when angry."

"So that's where you get it from," I heard Reyna mumble under her breath, making me laugh as I fought not to stare at the side of her face. Her profile was illuminated by the light coming through the window, and the sun glittered over the dark strands of her braid. Focus Jason! This story is important, I scolded myself.

I zoned back in just in time to see Roxie give Reyna a warning glare—I didn't want to see what would happen if that girl actually went off.

"Be nice, Reyna," I mumbled only to her.

She rolled her eyes and nodded begrudgingly.

She went on as if no one had spoken. Creepy how she's able to do that. "Naturally, Venus didn't want to lose that kind of love," she said. "The kind of love that could turn a manipulative beauty into someone that would risk anything for the one she loved, the kind of love that a man had died for. So she transferred the love they had for each other into Herite's spear. That way whenever someone made contact with the spear again, the love would be transferred to them through their skin and into their very souls, or so the legend said. Whoever said person saw next is who they'd fall in love with."

She looked at me with an expression that said something along the lines of _you're probably not going like this part_. "But…" she added, "because of the way Herite had died by his own spear, the love held within it was also associated with…bad luck. There was a tainted darkness to the spear ever since it killed a man as pure as Herite. So those that fall in love by the spear might endure a…tragic love story." She glanced up at both of us, a foreboding look in her eyes, and it was the first time I'd ever seen fear in those green eyes of hers. I shivered without realizing I was doing it, a chill going down my spine.

"Venus hid the spear away in a chest and commanded Cupid to place it somewhere random where in hundreds of years, someone may find it," she explained. "Because the spear passed hands through Cupid, the effects of the love also intensify the physical side—the lust held within it. However, if the next person to touch the spear already held love for someone, the spear wouldn't be able to interfere with that—Venus made sure never to taint any other love story—so it could only affect the physical in that case."

Again Roxie was looking at me like there was something obvious I should be connecting from her words, like she expected me to do something. Even if my brain wasn't fuzzy, I'd have no idea what she was looking for me to realize. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?" I almost snapped, my voice sounding angrier than I meant it to.

She was not fazed, at least not in the normal offended way; she just looked disappointed.

She sighed and shook her head, "You'll see eventually. You'll have to."

I looked at her for one long awkward second before turning my head to Reyna to see how she had taken the whole story.

She was frowning in the intense focused expression she often wore. "So Herite's spear is the one that Jason found on Valentine's Day and cut his hand on?"

Roxie switched her gaze from Reyna to me and something about her eyes made me wish she was still looking at Reyna; it was like she could see through me, as corny as it sounds, it felt like she was looking at my soul. I'd heard something about that actually; Venus children supposedly sense auroras, they're supposed to literally be able to see who you are, see your soul. I knew she wasn't going to abuse that, but I still felt exposed whenever Roxanne stared at me.

"Jason, what did you say the spear looked like?"

I looked back at her this time, "It was silver, not Imperial gold, which I thought was kind of odd. It was about six inches with engravings on the handle."

"What did the engravings say?"

I knew this was important, but I'd had a hard time focusing lately, "Um," I squinted, trying to remember, "Wait!"

I don't know why but I just remembered I had stashed it in my bag, "Here," I handed it to her.

Roxie took the spear carefully, only touching the handle, not the bland,"_C'est là que réside l'amour de deux_," she looked up at us before continuing to read, "…_morts au combat, mais il reste toujours vrai_."

The words sounded ancient, but musical. Her voice was slightly ominous and I felt similar to how I had after hearing one of the Great Prophecies.

"What does that mean?" Reyna urged.

"It's French. The language of love. It means 'Here lies the love of two, died in combat, but remains forever true.'" She swallowed. "Yep. This is Herite's spear all right."

"Okay," I said. "We go to Vegas, find Cupid, and tell him to take the spell off of me."

"Problem," Reyna broke in. "We don't know how to get to Vegas. What, do we take a train, a car?"

Roxanne looked amused. "I have my license," she grinned. "I can drive you two lovebirds to Vegas."

I wasn't sure who was blushing harder—Reyna or me. Probably me, considering I felt feverishly hot. This spell was becoming really annoying. It was like I couldn't control my emotions at all, which wasn't good, considering I had a gift for keeping my poker face on. My poker face probably wasn't too convincing with my cheeks so permanently red. _Stupid love magic,_ I thought to myself. It was totally messing me up and throwing me off. It was like ninety-five percent of my brain was seriously considering pinning Reyna to the wall and just letting myself cave into the desire and _actually _shove my tongue in her mouth. But fortunately, there was still a sane five-percent that A) didn't want to lose Reyna as a friend and B) didn't really want to give Roxanne some sort of crazy, pixie-esque satisfaction. Unfortunately, that five-percent was rapidly shrinking to four, then three-point-five…I was clinging to that small percentage like my life depended on it.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, wanting all of the awkwardness to just disappear, but I knew that it wouldn't. I knew it was either let the spell wash over me, or get rid of it. Since I refused to let the first option _be _an option, I was willing to risk having Roxanne drive us to Vegas. Finally I sighed. "Fine," I grumbled. "I guess we have no other choice."

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**Whooo long chapter! But important chapter. Again, I love PixieKindOfCrazy for taking the time to write the backstory! You get some virtual cookies (Yes…I'm giving you unreal sugar.) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)**

**Oh, and everyone wish Pixie a happy early birthday, 'cuz I don't think I'll be back on her actual birthday. 1, 2, 3—"Happy Birthday, Pixie!"**

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**~Mandi2341**


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